Beets, I have to admit, were never something I thought I would enjoy. My mother used to make us eat beets, and my limited thoughts on beets were that they tasted like dirt and had the texture of baby food. So I was a little closed minded when my girlfriend made me a beet salad one night for dinner.  It turns out, however, that I actually really liked it. My girlfriend used this recipe from Epicurious, and though I really liked it, I wanted to try to make my own version... here's mine!

I generally feel that prepared foods are not very good, for my health, or for my taste buds. Most contain additives that I cannot pronounce, there is too much sodium, they rarely have any “real” spices, and most of all, at least to me, they have no soul. I do have one very big weakness (okay, maybe two) when it comes to prepared foods that brings back memories of coming home at lunch during the school year and my grandmother making us a special lunch. One is Campbell's Cream of Tomato soup made with whole milk.

My grandmother had a method with Cream of Tomato, she would prepare it with real 3.25% homogenized milk (my mother made it with water - blah!), in her big cast iron pot, that added a slightly burnt flavor to the soup. However, the real special part was that she would make a grilled cheese sandwich, then cut the sandwich up into cubes and place those mini sandwiches into the bottom of the bowl. Then she would pour the creamy hot soup over the cubes. I dare you to try this and not love it.

Of course, my tastes have changed quite a bit since my childhood, so I make my grilled cheese with fresh cheeses that I have on hand (I like to mix together left over cream cheese and a little bit of blue cheese). For the soup, I often add a small amount of fresh basil. However, even without these upgrades, I would definitely still enjoy it. This always manages to make me feel like a spoiled little kid again.

This is one of my favorite recipes. It is a perfect compliment for any of the spicier recipes you plan to cook up. I love it to pair it with some spicy fish and olives, but it goes quite well with a spicy chicken or pork as well.

YUM!  Of course, this recipe is adjusted depending on the kind of rice you use. Generally, you could replace the 1/2 the water required on any box of rice with coconut milk and get very comparable results, however, I find that letting it sit for an added 5 minutes pumps up the flavor tremendously… try it, let me know how yours turned out.

On Tuesday afternoon, in spite of the rain, I decided to take a relaxing ten minute walk to my local fish monger in spite of rain. I know that Tuesday at the Poissonerie Westmount, is fresh fish delivery day.  With many fresh choices, like Sea Bass, Grouper, Tile Fish and Salmon, I decided on Skate, it is inexpensive (3.50$/lb) and very versatile.

Over the past few weeks Frugal Fritz and I have been preparing ourselves for a mostly meatless summer, drastically cutting down red meat, poultry, pork and all other "land" meats. We are going to reduce our carnivorous meals to about 3 per week. The object of this change is to encourage us to eat more vegetables and to really help us along with this, we signed up for a weekly organic vegetable basket. I really am excited to see what vegetables we get as our basket promises at least 7 different varieties per week!

Today was a fairly easy day which started with poached eggs and ended with an improvised "potato salad" inspired gnocchi dish. Preparing for day one, I segmented oranges, cleaned berries, sliced up celery and carrot sticks, prepared lima beans with spicy olives (a la portugaise) and picked up some awesome cheeses, some very thin brown rice crackers with linseed, almonds and grapes. Our plan is to only prepare one meal per day (dinner) and have several quick and easy snack sized foods on hand.

Here is my "Potato Salad Gnocchi" recipe, I have not tried this cold, but I am fairly sure it would be delicious. I will be making this again by the end of the week, so expect a picture (and an answer) soon!

Makes 4 portions

2 tbsps olive oil
1 clove minced garlic
1/2 tbsp dijon mustard
1/4 cup sliced leeks
1/4 cup sliced celery
8 white mushrooms, quartered
16 asparagus tips
1/2 cup frozen or canned peas
1 tsp or more chipotle powder or red pepper flakes
1/2 cup sliced red and yellow peppers
500g gnocchi, prepared and strained
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
8 quarter sized rounds of goat cheese (or 4 tbsps of soft goat cheese)

Heat olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat and add in garlic, dijon, leeks and celery and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Turn up the heat to medium high and add in the mushrooms, saute for about 1 minute then add in the asparagus tips, frozen peas and chipotle powder. After about 4-5 minutes the asparagus should be bright green. Add in the red and yellow peppers at this point and rotate all of the peppers to the bottom of the pan. Turn the heat down to medium and add in the gnocchi, cooking for another 2 minutes. Add in the parsley and gently toss the vegetables and gnocchi until well mixed.

To serve, divide gnocchi into four bowl, top with 2 pieces of goat cheese rounds or one tablespoon of soft goat cheese.

The Green Arrow is a Robin Hood-like comic book superhero who fights crime armed with a bow and a number of tricked-out arrows. His belief in justice and his desire to serve society’s underprivileged are only outweighed by his love for chili. 

I love eggs and in particular, I love the yolk. Mornings are simply better when I have two perfectly poached eggs, some delicious homemade bread, and a bottle of tabasco sauce. Most of the time, I could care less about the egg whites, my allegiance lies with the creamy yellow yolk.

But creamy center loving is also pretty bad for me and Frugal Fritz. Namely, the cholestrol is dangerously high. So after a bit of research, I decided that we could make an egg-white morning, and use the yolks in our homemade mayonnaise, in baking and other recipes where it's potent cholestrol content would be diluted over several servings.

The yolks of the egg can be kept safely in your fridge for about 3-4 days, or you can freeze them by whipping them up with a bit of sugar or some salt. Here was my first all egg-white attempt!

Egg-White Shrimp Frittata

Serves: 6
Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 12 minutes
Cost per serving: 1.25$

cooking spray
6 oz raw peeled & cleaned shrimp, halved (about 20- 31/40 sized)
4 medium roasted tomatoes (chopped and drained)
4 cups baby spinach
500g egg whites (about 16 eggs, separated)
2 oz crumbled goat cheese (feta or feta like)

Pre-heat the oven to 350˙F.

Spray a skillet with non-stick cooking spray and place over medium high heat. When the skillet is hot, add in the halved shrimp and saute for about 2 minutes. Next add in the roasted tomatoes, and saute for another 2 minutes.

Finally, add the spinach on top of the shrimp mixture, without stirring. After 1 minutes, scoop the shrimp mixture from the bottom of the pan up on top of the spinach. Cook another minute or so, until the spinach is bright green and wilted.

Remove from heat and drain.

Spray a 2-Qt casserole dish with non-cook spray (or use a cast iron skillet). Stir up with egg whites and add to the casserole. Slowly and carefully scoop in the shrimp, roasted tomato and spinach mixture into the center of the casserole. Top with crumbled goat cheese.

Bake at 350˙F for about 12 minutes or until the center of the frittata is firm (a little liquid is normal). Allow the frittata to cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

<< MORE >>

There are only a few foods I can think of that I dislike, and even as I try more and more different ways to prepare foods, that list grows shorter every day. Once upon a time, I could not have imagined myself liking beets, but one simple variation on the way it had been prepared for me in the past, and suddenly, I find myself buying beets on a regular basis!

Last week, I ordered my groceries online and found myself adding formerly nixed items to my shopping basket. Among them, brussels sprouts, cauliflower and even turnip. Frugal Fritz was not impressed and asked me what nights I might plan on serving these vegetables, and an "oh, by the way, I have other plans that night!"

The vegetables stayed in our crisper drawer for the entire week. I searched some online recipe sites for inspirational ideas on how to tame the bitter bite of brussels sprouts and for a way to make cauliflower my friend. I found a few recipes, like this one, and that one but nothing felt "right".

Turnip would be the most difficult. As a child I loved, loved, loved mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes was something I could eat everyday, and often did. Then, one day, out of the blue, I scooped up a spoonful of mashed potatoes, and from inches away, I could smell that something was up. I proceeded with caution, but my eyes deceived me and I devoured the spoonful. The betrayal must have shown well on my face because my mother turned her head away, unable to watch as I spit out the foul tasting mix of mashed potatoes and turnip.

Oh mother, how could you? How could anyone mess with simple delicious mashed potatoes? Why, oh why? Turnips! I had a half decent relationship with turnips before that incident. I appreciated turnips in a good Irish stew. I ate them when served to me in other dishes.

Finally, just before I was scheduled to do some groceries, I did my routine emptying of the refrigerator. I found some poor neglected vegetables in the bin, four tomatoes, two portobello mushrooms, two peppers (one red, and one orange), a few beets, along with the brussels sprouts, and the cauliflower. My aversion to wasting food kicked in, so I drizzled everything with olive oil, sprinkled on some salt, added in a few heads of garlic and I roasted it all at 400˙F for 1 hour.

Roasted Vegetable Soup

Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes
Cost per serving: 50¢

1 roasted tomato, cored, seeded and peeled
1 whole roasted cauliflower
6 or more cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of milk
2 cups of chicken stock
1 tsp of ground chipotle (or red chili flakes)
a few dashes of liquid mesquite
salt and pepper

Place the tomato, cauliflower, and garlic in a large pot over medium heat. Let everything warm up a bit, then add the milk and chicken stock. Heat the soup thoroughly. Add in the chipotle, and mesquite, then puree with a hand held blender until the soup is smooth. Add salt and pepper to your taste. Top with grated parmesan cheese.

Roasted Vegetable Soup (Part II)

Serves: 4, 1/2 cup servings
Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes
Cost per serving: 50¢

1 cup of Roasted Vegetable Soup (Part I)
3 roasted tomatoes, cored, seeded and peeled
2 roasted peppers, cored, seeded and peeled
1/4 tsp of cardamom
1/4 tsp of grated ginger
2 roasted portobello mushrooms
salt and pepper
1/2 cup plain yogourt

Add the tomatoes and peppers to the soup. Reheat the soup over medium heat. Once the soup is nice and hot, add in the cardamom and ginger and puree until smooth. Slice the mushrooms into bite-sized morsels and add to the soup. Heat the soup until the mushrooms are heated through, and add salt and pepper to taste. Add 1/2 cup of the soup to each serving bowl, top with 2 tablespoons of yogourt and some grated parmesan cheese.

I made these soups in two steps and on two days because, for one, I was not sure I would enjoy the cauliflower, but in fact I really did like it, as did Frugal Fritz, evidence being a bowl licked clean. The second reason was that I am not a big fan of reheated "creamy-style" soups, so in this way, I could re-inject the soup with some fresh texture with the added ingredients.

So you are probably wondering what happened to the brussels sprouts? They roasted well. The even looked tasty! I had roasted the brussels sprouts separately, drizzling on sesame oil, and I topped them with bacon. Rachel Ray suggested bacon, and GoodHouseKeeping suggests sesame oil - I figure, why not both? Licking the brussels sprouts seemed promising. The flavour was sweet and salty, and I felt that I could tolerate the bitterness. Then I bit all the way through... nope. I tossed the nasty buggers with gorgonzola... better but still not wonderful. But wait! Wasn't the point of eating brussels sprouts for its health benefits? Didn't I just negate that by adding bacon, sesame oil and cheese! And it still tasted bitter. Oh well!

As for the turnip, they can last a long time, no?